Wesley Britton's Blog - Posts Tagged "battlestar-galactica"

Sequart is proud to announce the publication of Somewhere Beyond the Heavens: Exploring Battlestar Galactica, edited by Rich Handley and Lou Tambone.

Glen A. Larson’s Battlestar Galactica only lasted for a single season, yet it earned its place among the most beloved science-fiction shows of all time. In 2003, Ronald D. Moore reimagined the story. This new take proved hugely popular, revitalizing the once-niche franchise. Moore’s Galactica successfully accomplished something few reboots of classic TV shows have ever managed to do: surpassing the original in scope and longevity. Like the Cylons, Galactica had evolved.

Somewhere Beyond the Heavens: Exploring Battlestar Galactica, edited by Rich Handley and Lou Tambone, examines the entire mythos, both televised and published, from 40 different perspectives, just in time for the show’s 40th anniversary. This anthology features insightful, analytical essays about Galactica‘s history, penned by popular comic historians, novelists, bloggers, subject-matter experts, and franchise insiders, including Samuel Agro, Jim Beard, Corinna Bechko, Joseph F. Berenato, Joe Bongiorno, Jeffrey Carver, October Crifasi, Steven Czarnecki, Julian Darius, Joseph Dilworth Jr., Matthew J. Elliott, Kelli Fitzpatrick, James Frenkel, Sabrina Fried, Caroline Glucksman, Robert Greenberger, Rich Handley, Amy Imhoff, Brandon Jerwa, Robert Jeschonek, Fiona Moore, John Kenneth Muir, Alex Newborn, Peter Noble, Alan J. Porter, Tony Simmons, Paul Simpson, Robert Smith?, Alan Stevens, and Lou Tambone, with a painted cover by beloved Galactica artist Chris Scalf.


You say you want to know more about Battlestar Galactica? So say we all.
The book runs a massive 572 pages, making it the longest book in Sequart history!

Somewhere Beyond the Heavens: Exploring Battlestar Galactica is available in printand on Kindle. (Just a reminder: you don’t need a Kindle device to read Kindle-formatted books; you can download a free Kindle reader for most computers, phones, and tablets.)

Find out more on the book’s official page or its Facebook page.
Reviewers may request a PDF of the book for review, and the book's editors are available for interviews. If interested, please send inquiries to sequart.mike@gmail.com

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Sequart Organization has promoted the study and legitimization of comic books and popular culture since 1996. Sequart has released dozens of books, 7 documentaries, and thousands of online articles.

ALSO FROM SEQUART

The Cyberpunk Nexus: Exploring the Blade Runner Universe, edited by Lou Tambone and Rich Handley, studies the Blade Runner movies, books, and comics.

A Long Time Ago: Exploring the Star Wars Cinematic Universe, edited by Rich Handley and Joseph F. Berenato, studies the Star Wars movies and TV shows.

The Sacred Scrolls: Comics on the Planet of the Apes, edited by Rich Handley and Joseph F. Berenato, looks at Planet of the Apes comic books.


New Life and New Civilizations: Exploring Star Trek Comics, edited by Joseph F. Berenato, looks at the long history of Star Trek comic books.

Somewhere Beyond the Heavens: Exploring Battlestar Galactica
edited by Rich Handley and Lou Tambone.
Publisher: Sequart Organization (December 18, 2018)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
ASIN: B07LGFF1NP
https://www.amazon.com/Somewhere-Beyo...

Reviewed by: Dr. Wesley ?Britton

Back in 1978, I considered a new TV series I dubbed Battlestar: Ponderosa (due to the presence of actor Loren Green as Commander Adama), along with sister production, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, as two disposable, diverting attempts by producer Glen A. Larson to capitalize on the success of Star Wars for the small screen. As both series had short lives, I didn't expect to see much more of either of them. Little did I know.

In the case of Battlestar: Galactica, forty years have gone by with many repeated attempts to reinvigorate the franchise. We got novelizations, original novels, comics, films, webisodes, board and video games, unproduced attempts at revivals, and, most impressing of all, Ronald D. Moore's extraordinary 2003 re-imagining of the concept for the SyFy channel and elsewhere that earned considerable praise for a remarkable reboot.

Now, the Sequart Organization has published the fifth, yes, fifth, serious book-length academic analysis of all things Galactica by forty comic historians, novelists, bloggers, subject-matter experts, and franchise insiders including Jim Beard, Joseph F. Berenato, Joe Bongiorno, Jeffrey Carver, and October Crifasi.

Sequart is touting the fact their new title runs 572 pages, making it the longest book in their history. This is rather surprising considering their past essay collections on popular culture subjects included Batman, The X-Men, Star Wars, and Planet of the Apes, to scratch the surface of their catalogue. As with all their tomes, Somewhere Beyond the Heavens touches every conceivable base you can think of regarding Battlestar: Galactica including close scrutiny of the creative processes, analyses of key episodes and characters, not to mention deep dives into the ephemera associated with the franchise.

Clearly, Somewhere Beyond the Heavens is not a useful introduction for the uninitiated and not a simple overview for the mildly interested or simply curious. It's intended for serious devotees who might not need to explore every essay, especially if you're a fan of only the Glen A. Larson version or the Ronald Moore revision. For example, do you care about the background of the mysterious Count Iblis as portrayed by Patrick Macnee in a two-part episode in the original series? If so, this collection is for you.

This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on March 13, 2019:
https://waa.ai/o8Rj